Contagious Diseases

CECILE POPE, a nurse epidemiologist (an expert in contagious diseases) with the Volusia County Health Department, will discuss AIDS during the 2 p.m. Sunday meeting of the Happy Tickers Club. An organization for people with heart disease, the club meets monthly at Memorial Hospital, 875 Sterthaus Ave., Ormond Beach. Reservations for this session are not required. More information is available by calling Pat Brown, (904) 677-6900, ext. 3453.

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Marshals Service does a poor job of providing medical services to thousands of federal prisoners and doesn't adequately track those with contagious diseases, such as tuberculosis, according to a Justice Department audit. The Marshals Service has custody of about 40,000 prisoners awaiting trial on federal charges, sometimes for days, weeks or even years.

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Marshals Service does a poor job of providing medical services to thousands of federal prisoners and doesn't adequately track those with contagious diseases, such as tuberculosis, according to a Justice Department audit. The Marshals Service has custody of about 40,000 prisoners awaiting trial on federal charges, sometimes for days, weeks or even years.

Tensions with Iraq and recent revelations about al-Qaeda's supposed plans to launch biological and other attacks after Sept. 11 have focused necessary attention on bioterrorism. That threat invites wider discussion, not to scare people about the horrifying effects of weapons laced with agents such as anthrax, botulinum, brucellosis, cholera, plague and smallpox, but as a public-health concern that requires deliberate action. The issue is not new. A report by the British American Security Information Council notes the centuries-long use of diseases in warfare.

Children in orphanages were used to test experimental vaccines for diphtheria and whooping cough for several decades after World War II, a newspaper reported Tuesday. But an infectious diseases expert said the testing was necessary to save lives in orphanages, where contagious diseases were rampant. ''Many children's lives were saved,'' said Dr. David Vaux, a researcher at the University of Melbourne.

'EXTREME CASE.' A woman suffering from tuberculosis who repeatedly refused treatment has been arrested. Margaret Allen, 29, was taken Wednesday to Montabello Rehabilitation Center in Baltimore. Authorities suspect she spread the disease to family members and acquaintances. Elin Gursky, director of epidemiology and disease control for the Prince George's County health department, said Allen was arrested under a provision of state law requiring public health officials to control the spread of contagious diseases.

A requirement that high school wrestlers wear only athletic supporters for weigh-ins sparked controversy at Gateway High School last month, but the rule is designed to prevent the spread of contagious diseases, a national wrestling official said.''Anything that covers the body restricts the inspection for disease -- even shorts or a bikini defeats the purpose of the rule,'' said Rex Jones, national federation wrestling rules committee chairman.Gateway students B.J. Mirro and Lisa Cannon, the only girls who wrestle boys in Florida this year, recently challenged that regulation and wound up forfeiting matches after refusing to weigh in wearing just athletic supporters.

STAGE ONE:Entering New YorkShips entering New York Bay were met by inspectors to check for contagious diseases and to decide which immigrants should be sent to Ellis Island for closer examination. In practice, first-class passengers were given only a cursory examination. The assumption was that anyone who could afford a first- class ticket was not likely to become a public charge. Second class was scrutinized more carefully, but inspectors were mainly looking for contagious diseases, or for passengers who were traveling cabin class only because they knew they would not be admitted if examined at Ellis.

Concerned that ventilation systems for airline cabins may contribute to the spread of contagious diseases, federal health officials are investigating whether some passengers with tuberculosis have infected fellow passengers on long flights.The government seeks to determine whether the recirculation of cabin air would allow the transmission of tuberculosis, a bacterial disease spread through the air by patients in the active stage of the disease. The disease caused 3 million deaths worldwide last year and infected 8 million more people.

Employers legally can fire workers with contagious diseases such as AIDS and tuberculosis, even if they are wrong in thinking the disease can spread on the job, a Justice Department lawyer told the U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday.Telling employers they cannot discriminate against such workers would ''burst the manageable bounds'' of anti-discrimination laws, said U.S. Solicitor General Charles Fried.He was arguing in the case of Gene Arline, a Florida teacher fired because she had tuberculosis.

NEW YORK -- A woman who traveled from Congo to Toronto last weekend, with a stopover at Newark International Airport, became seriously ill Sunday and is being tested for several contagious diseases, including meningitis and the deadly hemorrhagic fever caused by the Ebola virus. If the Ebola virus is confirmed, the case would be the first of the disease in a human in North America. And it would validate the warnings of infectious-disease experts who have long maintained that geographical boundaries are increasingly meaningless to the spread of disease.

Children in orphanages were used to test experimental vaccines for diphtheria and whooping cough for several decades after World War II, a newspaper reported Tuesday. But an infectious diseases expert said the testing was necessary to save lives in orphanages, where contagious diseases were rampant. ''Many children's lives were saved,'' said Dr. David Vaux, a researcher at the University of Melbourne.

Health authorities in the Caribbean coastal city of Barranquilla are on alert after an outbreak of a highly contagious disease. A spokeswoman for the provincial health department said Thursday that a hospital in Barranquilla was treating five people for the highly contagious Weil disease. The disease is spread by rats, dogs and pigs and can kill its victim within four days if not properly treated. The symptoms are similar to those of dengue fever and include high fever, shivers, headaches, vomiting and joint pain.

Concerned that ventilation systems for airline cabins may contribute to the spread of contagious diseases, federal health officials are investigating whether some passengers with tuberculosis have infected fellow passengers on long flights.The government seeks to determine whether the recirculation of cabin air would allow the transmission of tuberculosis, a bacterial disease spread through the air by patients in the active stage of the disease. The disease caused 3 million deaths worldwide last year and infected 8 million more people.

At least 10 of the 150 Clermont High students, teachers and administrators checked for tuberculosis earlier this week have tested positive for the disease.The testing was done after Marc Naugler, a senior at the school, tested positive for the contagious disease. Naugler said Wednesday that further tests show he has had the disease but that the worst of it is behind him.As a result of the positive preliminary test results on the 10 affected people, each of them will undergo further testing.

The number of mumps cases has swelled in Orange County, prompting a health official Tuesday to urge parents to take their children to get booster shots.In 1991 the county reported 216 cases of the contagious disease, which can cause fever, muscle aches and painful swelling. That was 19 more cases than the whole state had in all of 1990.Last year Osceola County reported the second-highest number of mumps cases in Central Florida: 28. There were 471 cases statewide in 1991.What's even more alarming is that nearly every child who contracted mumps in Orange County already had been vaccinated, said Bill Toth, county epidemiologist.

NEW YORK -- A woman who traveled from Congo to Toronto last weekend, with a stopover at Newark International Airport, became seriously ill Sunday and is being tested for several contagious diseases, including meningitis and the deadly hemorrhagic fever caused by the Ebola virus. If the Ebola virus is confirmed, the case would be the first of the disease in a human in North America. And it would validate the warnings of infectious-disease experts who have long maintained that geographical boundaries are increasingly meaningless to the spread of disease.

Tensions with Iraq and recent revelations about al-Qaeda's supposed plans to launch biological and other attacks after Sept. 11 have focused necessary attention on bioterrorism. That threat invites wider discussion, not to scare people about the horrifying effects of weapons laced with agents such as anthrax, botulinum, brucellosis, cholera, plague and smallpox, but as a public-health concern that requires deliberate action. The issue is not new. A report by the British American Security Information Council notes the centuries-long use of diseases in warfare.

'EXTREME CASE.' A woman suffering from tuberculosis who repeatedly refused treatment has been arrested. Margaret Allen, 29, was taken Wednesday to Montabello Rehabilitation Center in Baltimore. Authorities suspect she spread the disease to family members and acquaintances. Elin Gursky, director of epidemiology and disease control for the Prince George's County health department, said Allen was arrested under a provision of state law requiring public health officials to control the spread of contagious diseases.

A requirement that high school wrestlers wear only athletic supporters for weigh-ins sparked controversy at Gateway High School last month, but the rule is designed to prevent the spread of contagious diseases, a national wrestling official said.''Anything that covers the body restricts the inspection for disease -- even shorts or a bikini defeats the purpose of the rule,'' said Rex Jones, national federation wrestling rules committee chairman.Gateway students B.J. Mirro and Lisa Cannon, the only girls who wrestle boys in Florida this year, recently challenged that regulation and wound up forfeiting matches after refusing to weigh in wearing just athletic supporters.